The present invention relates to a broadcasting information service system, and more specifically relates to an information service system which can achieve the broadcasting information service to individual information terminals and to an information terminal through which a user can select and obtain desired information from common information broadcasted from the information service system.
The information service using a portable or mobile information terminal (e.g., a portable telephone) includes two types; one using two-way communication, and one using broadcast communication. Generally, in a two-way communication type of information service, a user can perform a search freely, and therefore can search for desired information. However, it has such a disadvantage that the communication cost becomes expensive because the communication line is occupied for the search.
In a broadcast type of information service, on the other hand, since information is broadcasted, the information can be provided to a user without highly burdening the mobile telecommunication network and the host, and therefore the information is expected to be provided at a low cost.
When using a mobile information terminal, a user often accesses to an information service while moving. In this case, a broadcasting type of information service which requires fewer operations for input and so on would be desirable. This is because a free search function in a broadcasting type, which is an advantage of a two-way communication type, requires complicated input operations for a search and so on, which may be disadvantageous in a mobile information terminal. However, a broadcasting type information service has such drawbacks that the provision of information is undifferentiated as compared with a two-way communication type one and it is difficult to provide information which meets the requirements of individual users.
To improve the drawbacks, it may be preferred to prepare information for each user and supply it to the user. However, this method causes the increase in amount to be processed on the part of the information supplier and the increase in load on the communication network. For the purpose of reducing the redundancy caused by data common among users, data which is needed by every user may be broadcasted as a common data file to every user. A data manipulation file for selecting desired information from the common data file may be prepared for and broadcasted to every user. However, such a type of broadcasting information service has the following disadvantages.
(1) Although the data necessary for a user is only a portion of the common data file, it is needed to store the whole of the common data file, which may be a burden particularly on a mobile equipment with a small memory capacity.
(2) Provision of a data manipulation command file customized for every user may result in complicated management of the file. In order to lessening this problem, if the data manipulation command file is designed to execute a complicated processing, then the amount to be processed by the mobile information terminal may be increased.
(3) The size of a data file which is presented in tabular form tends to become large, and therefore the load on the mobile telecommunication network is increased.
(4) Even when non-uniform radio environments are assumed, little consideration is given to a temporary breakdown of communications.
The object of the present invention is to provide a broadcasting information service system which can overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks and which is capable of timely and flexible generation, management, broadcasting and utilization of information which has little redundancy and fits the needs of every user.
Among users who have access to the same service regardless of whether or not they obtain service, information needed is mostly common to the users. Further, the whole of the information is not always updated. According to the present invention, the information service system comprises: an information broadcasting system for broadcasting to users one or more data files in which data is presented in tabular form and a data manipulation command file which specifies the data manipulation of the data file; and a mobile or portable information terminal (hereinafter, simply referred to as an xe2x80x9cinformation terminalxe2x80x9d) which executes the data manipulation of the received data file in accordance with the specification of the data manipulation command file.
The information terminal according to the present invention comprises: a memory unit for attribute/value which stores names and values of one or more variables in pairs; and a unit which, upon the processing of the received data manipulation command file, when a constraint value of an attribute used for processing of data presented in tabular form is designated as a previously defined specific character string or an attribute name appended with a predetermined specific character string, employs the value of the stored variable as the constraint value of the corresponding attribute. Upon receiving the data manipulation command file, the information terminal processes a data file which has already broadcasted in accordance with the command described in the data file description file. For example, a modification, insertion or deletion may be made to a portion of the data file to update the data file, or it may be possible to compute the join, the selection and the projection of a set of data files which have already broadcasted to generate a new data file. In the data manipulation command file, there may be described a command for modification, insertion or deletion of the contents of the memory unit which stores therein the name and the value of the variable in a pair. Upon receiving the command through the data manipulation command file, the information terminal executes the modification of the value of the variable stored in the memory unit or the insertion or deletion of the variable itself in accordance with the command. When the received file contains information on the constraint for selecting a portion of the data as the information for data manipulation in addition to data presented in tabular form, there are provided a unit for selecting the portion of the data in accordance with the constraint and a unit for storing the selected portion of the data. In this case, the receiver can store only the necessary information by a simple processing procedure. In addition, since information on the variables are provided through the data file common to all users and the data manipulation command file, necessity of individual information processing for every user can be eliminated and management can be performed readily.
The information service system comprises: a unit for storing an ID number of a data file to be newly broadcasted and information of a data file which has been broadcasted last time; a unit for detecting the number of updated tuples by comparing the contents between the data file to be newly broadcasted and the data file which has been broadcasted last time; a unit for updating the ID number and assigning the updated ID number as an ID number of the file to be newly broadcasted, if any change is needed; and a unit for controlling the broadcasting of either the whole of the contents of the new data file or only the changed portion thereof depending on the number of updated tuples. A unit may be provided which achieves the broadcasting of only the changed portion of the new file by supplying a data manipulation command file containing a command for making a modification, insertion or deletion to the data file which has been broadcasted last time. In this case, load on the communication network can be reduced and the processing procedure on the receiver""s part can be simplified, since the processing can be performed through the data manipulation command file. When the broadcasting of only the changed portion of a file is performed consecutively, there may be provided a unit for counting the number of broadcasting operations and a unit for applying information on the number to the command for making a modification, insertion or deletion, and adding the command to the data manipulation command file which has been broadcasted last time to prepare a new data manipulation command file. There may provided a unit for splitting the data file in the minimum units of tuple and a unit for broadcasting each of the splitted data files to the information terminal together with a command which instructs to join the splitted data files and information on the file name of the original data file, the total number of the split files and the split number of the split file. In this case, stable communication becomes possible even under environments where there is a risk of temporal breakdown of communications.
Accordingly, the information terminal according to the present invention comprises: a memory unit for attributes. An attribute consists of an attribute name and an attribute value in a pair, a receiver unit which receives a broadcasted file, and an information processing unit which processes the received file; when an attribute constraint value used for processing of data presented in tabular form is designated as a predetermined specific character string or an attribute name appended with a predetermined specific character string, the information processing unit employing a value of a variable stored in the memory unit for attribute under the same name as the attribute, as the attribute constraint value. As used herein, the xe2x80x9cprocessing of the received filexe2x80x9d includes the processing of the data in the received file and the data processing instructed by the received file.
When the received file contains data presented in tabular form and information for manipulating the data, the information processing unit may execute data-manipulation of the received file in accordance with the information and stores the file therein after the data-manipulation. When the information is one concerning the constraint for selecting a portion of the data, the information processing unit may select the portion of the data in accordance with the constraint and stores only the selected data as the content of the received file.
When a command for modification of the contents comprising the name and the value in a pair of the variable stored in the memory unit or insert or delete the variable stored in the memory unit is described in the received file, the information processing unit may execute the modification of the value of the variable stored in the memory unit or the insertion or deletion of the variable itself in accordance with the command.
When a manipulation for generating a new file by updating or data-manipulation of data which has been received is described in the received file, the information processing unit may execute the updating or manipulation.
The broadcasting information service system according to the present invention is one for broadcasting data to a plurality of information terminals in the form appended with a file name and an ID number representing a file version; the system comprising: a unit for storing an ID number of a data file to be newly broadcasted and information of a data file which has been broadcasted last time; a unit for detecting the number of updated tuples by comparing the contents between the data file to be newly broadcasted and the data file which has been broadcasted last time; a unit for updating the ID number and assigning the updated ID number as an ID number of the file to be newly broadcasted, if any change is needed; and a unit for controlling the broadcasting of either the whole of the contents of the new data file or only the changed portion thereof depending on the number of updated tuples.
The broadcasting of only the updated portion of the new file may be achieved by supplying a data manipulation command file in which one or more commands for making modification, insertion or deletion in the data file which has been broadcasted last time are described. When the broadcasting of only the updated portion of a file is performed consecutively, the number of broadcasting operations may be counted, information on the number may be applied to the command for the modification, insertion or deletion, and a new data manipulation command file may be prepared in addition to the data manipulation command file which has been broadcasted last time.
When the size of the data file is larger than a predetermined value, the data file may splitted in the minimum units of tuple, each of the splitted data files may be broadcasted to an information terminal together with a command which instructs to join the splitted data files and information on the file name of the original data file and the split number of the split file. In this case, since there may be a situation where the file cannot be broadcasted due to breakdown of communications, it is preferably to add information on the total number of the split files. The addition of the information on the total number of the split files may be achieved by adding information by which the file is indicated to be the last file to the last split file.
The information service system according to the present invention comprises a point-related information supply unit which broadcasts information based on points to a plurality of information terminals each carrying points of a user; the point-related information supply unit broadcasting one or more common files containing data in which the information based on points is described and conditions for selecting and storing only data based on the points of a user of each information terminal from the data in which the information based on points is described.
The information service system according to the present invention comprises: a unit for management of information on contract and deal of each customer and management of identification information and points of each customer in a pair; a point supply unit which broadcasts, to an information terminal of each customer, a common file in which points of each customer are described and a data manipulation command file in which a manipulation for selecting only the points of a customer of each information terminal from the common file and storing the selected points in a memory unit for attributes of the information terminal; and a point-related information supply unit which broadcasts one or more common files containing data in which information based on points is described and conditions based on which each information terminal selects only data based on the points of the user of the information terminal from the data in which information based on points is described and stores the selected data in the information terminal.
The term xe2x80x9cpointxe2x80x9d of each customer includes, for example, a point given based on the contract fee or the term of contract, a point given based on the purchase price, an extra point given during only a special sales campaign and a point given to a limited subject (e.g., male, female). The information based on the points includes, for example, a discount price of a good, information on limited bargain goods and information on free-of-charge services (e.g., use of a resting room in an airport) based on the points.
The information terminal according to the present invention comprises a memory unit for attribute which stores a value of points, a receiver unit which receives a file comprising a condition described using a predetermined specific character string and data in which information based on points is described, and an information processing unit which processes the received file; the information processing unit selectively storing the information based on points in accordance with a condition which is obtained by replacing the specific character string with the value of points stored in the memory unit for attribute/value.
The information terminal according to the present invention comprises: an extended IC card, which independently stores a value of points; a memory unit for attributes, which stores a value of points; a receiver unit, which receives a common file in which points of every user are described and a data manipulation command file in which a manipulation for selecting only the points of a user of the information terminal from the common file and storing the points in the memory unit for attribute/value is described; and an information processing unit, which processes the files received by the extended IC card and the receiver unit to set the total points on the memory unit for attributes; the information processing unit selecting only the points of the user of the information terminal from the common file in which the points of the user is described in accordance with the description in the data manipulation command file and storing the sum of the selected points and the points stored in the extended IC card in the memory unit for attributes.
This specification includes part or all of the contents as disclosed in the specification and/or drawings of Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-153268, which is a priority document of the present application.
The above and other objects, effects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.